Last year, Lady Gaga introduced the world to her male alter ego, Jo Calderone, a Depression-era mechanic who oddly enough looked like Bob Dylan, and sort of like that actor Adam Goldberg too, right? Gaga did the drag king thing and taped down her tatas, donned a dark wig and did a whole photo shoot for Vogue Hommes Japan as Jo. After that, nothing much happened. I figured it was just a minor little kerfuffle from the Gaga Stunt Queen Machine. Well, Gaga has brought Jo back, this time for the artwork for her new single, “You & I” (which sounds like a rip-off of Elton John).
She’s worn rubber in abundance, sported bizarre facial horns and attended an awards ceremony in a dress made out of raw meat. But clearly Lady Gaga is bored of being an outrageous woman and has decided to switch gender instead – again.
The controversial singer adopted the guise of her male alter-ago Jo Calderone for the cover of her new single, You and I. Smoking a cigarette and sporting sideburns and stubble, Gaga gave off a moody and scruffy look for the black and white shots.
The single, taken from her second studio album Born This Way, is due for release on August 23, but why she decided to dress as her male self is anyone’s guess.
Gaga, 25, Tweeted the single cover pictures yesterday along with the words: ‘You will never find what you are looking for in love, if you don’t love yourself.’
She also told fans, in her 991st Tweet that the music video for the song would be her 1,000th Tweet.
This is not the first time that Jo Calderone has made an appearance – last June she posed as him for a series of photos in London by renowned photographer Nick Knight and arranged by regular Gaga stylist Nicola Formichetti. They then went on to appear in a men’s fashion editorial for the September issue of Vogue Hommes Japan.
It’s not been great week for Gaga – real name Stefani Germanotta – who is facing a lawsuit over claims of plagiarism. A vocalist called Rebecca Fancescatti is reoprtedly claiming her hit song Judas is a rip-off of her own 1999 tune Juda.
[From The Mail]
Gaga ripping off another artist??! NO, that’s just impossible. Gaga is the most original person in the world. She would never copy from Madonna or Christina Aguilera or Bob Dylan or Elton John or some random person. Gaga is the creator of everything!
I’ll say it again, though – Gaga in male drag isn’t terrible. She looks very natural as a man. I’m still not sure this isn’t Adam Goldberg.
Photos courtesy of Lady Gaga and Vogue Homme Japan.
she is ugly and all she does is copy other artists…from her former roomie, to a girl band in korea, to a 70’s singer…she’s so annoying.
Finally, someone who isn’t afraid to call out Gaga’s blatant copying. I really hope this woman wins.
Gaga is really not that talented. Perhaps for being a popstar, but that’s a really low standard anyway. If you put her up against women like Tori Amos, Amy Lee, Diamanda Galas, Shikee (from Android Lust), or Cristina Scabbia (from Lacuna Coil), you’ll see that Gaga is mediocre at best.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end for Gaga.
*yawn*
I don’t consider myself some sort of “random person” but last April I rode in an Easter parade. My home made float was a yellow egg with flower stickers decorating the shell. I didn’t have a machine gun but yeah, I think she totally ripped me off.
I kept trying to figure out who she looked like in drag….Adam Goldberg is 100% spot on! As an aside, he was great in The Prophecy with Christopher Walken!
Damn she is ugly woman and ugly man.
It’s just BORING, actually. Grace Jones, Annie Lennox, Tilda Swinton, Peaches and even Kate Moss have all dressed up as guys; and Peaches and Moss even wore beards and mustaches, so this isn’t anything new or remarkable. This is just Gaga being unoriginal and trying to market another little piece of fake, corporate-crafted-counterculture, again.
@Cherry Rose OMG! Someone else knows about Shikee and Android Lust! Yay! Shikee is so underrated IMO. And she can program too. I wonder how old she is?
@Rita, Gaga totally copied you!
There are several Lady Gaga songs I do love, not afraid to admit it, but what little love she gains from me for her songs she cashes in with her personality. I’m so tired of this whole alter ego thing every goddamn popstar is now doing.
Is it any wonder Adele is so popular? So many of us are sick to death of music being about the visual and not the audio.
You don’t think Gaga is about the audio? Huh? She’s all about both. Also, who cares if other women have dressed in drag before? Can only one person do that and all the rest are copying?
She looks like Adam Goldbery and in the last picture Nicolas Cage. Wtf.
I think Lady GaGa is a talented singer with an amazing voice. I think the gimick of her act/persona has gone on too long with very little change. I understand wanting to be artistic and interprative, but I feel that what she is doing is getting boring, predictable, and irritating. I watched her as a judge on SYTYCD and the advice that she gave was somewhat genuine, but it was totally overshadowed by the costume she had on, the ridiculous hair and makeup, her facial expressions and antics, the crying, etc. It wasn’t art, it was just silly self-indulgence.
@Cherry Rose… exactly what I thought. Girl needs to sit down and listen to tori Amos if she wants to hear original genious.
She’s so…×eyeroll×… that’s all I got.
GO AWAY!!!!!
Gaga markets herself as an original revolutionary artist. She claims she wrote the “album of the decade”, when in reality it is slipping off the top of the charts, and she claims she is changing the world with her art, when in reality all she is really doing is recycling and outright copying everyone else.
Gaga’s voice has gotten better, but she still performs with recorded piano tracks on stage, so many times she isn’t completely playing piano live. Also, she does lipsync sometimes, which normally wouldn’t be a big deal but Gaga has made it a big deal because she claims she NEVER lipsyncs.
Little.dead girl: agree
It’s nice to see to know that Adam Goldberg has it in him to make beautifully dainty daughters like Lady Gaga.
@Dethhammer, I was waiting to hear from you on this one ;). Also, wanted to know what you think about the new “fashion” special she’s doing? And the lawsuit?
@MorticiansDoItDeader, she’s doing a fashion special? Ugh, why? She doesn’t design anything herself. Will she be just hosting it or will it just be a showcase of things she’s worn in the past?
When it comes to marketing herself in original ways, Gaga rules! I think she looks great as a guy.
Thought the 2nd pic was a young Bob Geldof.
I expected a lot from Gaga way back, but she swelled into a slick, flashy, “entertainer” and grew further and further away from singer/songwriter all too quickly. She seems more interested in shocking us than entertaining us.
I’m not impressed anymore.
Rita – lol
She’s hot as a guy. Yum.
Is it just me or does she look like that dude from Hell’s kitchen? lol
The album art looks gross, like a college student dressed in drag for Halloween because it was the cheapest costume. The Vogue photos look much better and more natural.
Ewww she looks dirty and smelly.
as usual, gaga is on the waning end of a trend. drag kings are over.
She’s very talented. Too bad the other crap overshadows the talent.
She looks like Prince in the top pic. I guess she ran out of women to copy. Is there anything, I mean ANYTHING original about this clown? (Probably going to be her next outfit.)
i hate to be such a mean girl but all this proves is how ugly she really is.
I actually think Gaga is 100000000x hotter as a guy. I can’t get enough of her drag pictures!
crazy
She looks like Amy Winehouse.
Yup, Tori Amos wipes the floor with Gaga.
Nicolas Cage in the last pic. whoa
She looks like that dude from Hells kitchen lol!
I wonder if she realizes that she looks so much better as a man than as a woman? I’d be horribly depressed if I were her. >.<
Some more info about Rebecca Francescatti’s lawsuit against Gaga:
Francescatti, who has filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement at a federal court, is claiming that Gaga’s hit song “Judas” is a rip-off of her own 1999 tune “Juda”.
Francescatti believes the similarities between the two songs are not a coincidence because her former bass player/sound engineer Brian Gaynor is now employed by DJ White Shadow’s music company, DJ White Shadow LLC (which comprises of Paul Blair, Gaynor and Brian Lee), which wrote 17 songs on Gaga’s recent “Born This Way” album.
“Though the songs are different styles, the composition is the same and the chorus is the same melody. Rebecca is seeking recognition for what she created,” said her lawyer Chris Niro.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Northern District of Illinois, Francescatti claims that she recorded a version of her song during a 2005 session for her album that was engineered by Brian Gaynor, a member of DJ White Shadow’s company (DJ White Shadow LLC), who worked with Gaga on her album “Born This Way,” which contains “Judas.”
Gaynor’s work on “Juda” allowed him to have access to the musical tracks and composition of “Juda” and Gaynor had full knowlegde of Francescatti’s copyright of the work.
During May 2010, when Francescatti asked Gaynor’s assistance to mix a new song, he informed her that he had been working with Gaga.
In an email dated May 1, 2010, Gaynor informed Francescatti that he provided several songs to Lady Gaga, on which Gaga recorded her vocals and then sent them back to him through iChat. Gaynor explained that he would be leaving for France on May 19, 2010 to join Gaga on tour and to finish the records, all of which was paid for by the label.
Francescatti is seeking unspecified damages, plus court costs and attorney’s fees. Gaynor, as well as Gaga’s label, Interscope Records, and its parent company, Universal Music Group, are also named in the suit, along with DJ White Shadow. Francescatti has been composing and performing original songs in the Chicago area since the late 1990s. She has a Masters Degree in English Literature and is completing an album based on US immigration social issues.
You can read the lawsuit documents here : http://www.scribd.com/doc/61713455/Lady-Gaga-Lawsuit
Wow she looks like a really, really ugly Bob Geldof as a dude.
…and thar’s pretty sad, since Geldof was never attractive to begin with.
Reminds me of the StrayCats circa 1983; signing on with cherry rose, dethhammer etc. she is only talented by today’s low pop standards really have you read the lyrics to ooh so controversial Judas or Ace of base ripoff Alejandro; says a lot about this fake that I want to ride your disco stick – amazingly profound – may be her most remembered line. Dethhammer, do you have info on last fall’s lawsuit filed by Rob fusari, one that helped create her, and the settlement. Swept under the rug by her media people. That settlement had to be in the 7 figures. If you watch her interviews, like the recent one on Jimmy Kimmel, she strikes you as an adolescent narcissist reveling in the fact that people are jus paying attention to her; but how far would this chick have gotten in the 60s/70s before mass marketing, thousands of media outlets, and music vids; she would still be doing karoake at the local faux hipster club. Glad to see BTW, artifice of the decade, is sinking, now she can go along with it.
A copycat who hides behind her costumes because she is ashamed of herself. Art? Please!
I loved her first 2 records. I’m not really into the 3rd one but even if I was. SHE is not interesting to me at all. She is not a “real person”. She’s a performance art piece and I don’t care. I wonder how I would have felt about Bowie had I been around in the early 70s? Would have only been interested in the art and not the artist because the artist was so detached? I’m not going to argue originality because I wasn’t around for Bowie.
I don’t like anyone else who she is compared to: I found Grace Jones repulsive. I hated and still hate that skank Madonna.
Tilda Swinton kind of creeps me out but she’s an actress and when she dresses oddly it is who she really is as a person and has nothing to do with this weird Gaga creature who must be so uninteresting as a person that she hides whomever she is behind all these costumes.
All that said – she makes one fugly dude.
She just did the only thing she has never done before. Her career is over. Now, Gaga, leave us alone.
Apparently her next CD is going to be 60 minutes of complete silence and she’s calling it Deaf Metal. Now that’s alternative. 🙂
I agree with machiavelli, I think that the reason that she started with all the costumes and exaggerated makeup, is because of how unfortunately ugly looking she is. I think that is the real root of all her antics. She is just covering up all the homely.
That’s Lady Gaga? I thought it was Sam Ronson!
She’s obviously not the first or last to dress in drag, but I like these gender-bender photos a lot actually. No complaints here.
@DethHammer – I first discovered Android Lust when I was 14, and I’ve been a fan ever since.
The outfit that Gaga pretty much copied off of Shikee is this one. http://www.famous-celebrity-news.com/whats-your-favorite-lady-gaga-outfit-andor-picture/
Shikee wore this outfit in her music video for Stained, which came out in 2003-2004. Here’s some pictures.
This is the face. http://www.mtviggy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/android-lust4-390×299.jpg
Another one: http://mtvdesi.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Android-Lust-1-300×229.jpg
Full outfit: http://www.musicfolio.com/modernrock/androidLust_shikhee.jpg
Obviously, Shikee did it better. Gaga’s outfit just looks stupid.
This costume was the first I had seen of Lady Gaga, and I knew exactly who she had copied from. Thus, I’ve loathed her ever since. I refuse to listen to any of her music and refuse to watch her music videos.
So few people know of Android Lust (mostly those that are Goth), that of course no one would say anything about that outfit. However, I’m one of the few people, and it pisses me off that she would so blatanly copy someone like that. But Gaga also ripped off David Bowie’s lightening bolt painted on his face, which pissed me off even more.
I’ve come to the conclusion that everything she wears came from somebody esle, whether the artist is well known or not, and was obviously done better.
Gaga is only becoming more pathetic as she gets more exposure. At least Katy and Rihanna realize that they’re doing nothing new and don’t try to sell themselves as “avant garde”.
Gaga needs to stop. I remember a time artists used to concern themselves with overexposure. She’s having to try too hard to keep people interested in her.
Lady CopyCaca strikes again!
Looks convincing as a man tough.
But doesn’t like any jokes about it.
I remember the incindent when Caca had a tv-interviewer kicked out of a german press-conference, when she asked her wether she has a penis or not.
LOL!
I honestly dont see the resemblance between the Android Lusk outfit and the Gaga outfit. The only connective thread seems to be that Gaga is wearing something black over the eyes. It seems like a bit of a reach to suggest the whole outfit was copied. Thats not to say that she isnt a copy cat – nothing she does is particularly original, but then again, who is orginal these days?
As for the drag pics – not loving it but only because she has done it before. Boring!
@Dethhammer, thanks. Even if this woman has a case, I’m wondering if she’ll have enough money to go up against GaGa and win. She certainly has the loot to drag the lawsuit out until the other woman runs out of money.
I think that dude tried to sell me some crack in the NYC subway.
Cherry, hun, you’re full of shit, pardon my native language. Neither of those outfits you posted aren’t particularly imaginative or hard to come up with, to be honest, and as someone who has lived among the goth culture, I see goth girls DRAWING outfits similar to Shikhee, even though none of us haven’t heard of them or Android Lust. Ever.
Also, you mentioned Cristina Scabbia and her being above Gaga in talent. Well honestly, this is where you’re wrong. Cristina Scabbia has nothing on Gaga when it comes to vocals. Nothing. You’re biased. I don’t like Gaga that much, but hey. The only bit in your post I can agree with is the last one. I’d be much more okay with Gaga if she wasn’t trying to sell herself as original or avant-garde. Something actually tells me that Gaga is trolling us all stupid.
She looks good, but honestly? She isn’t the first one to go the androgynous angle, but people are gullible enough to believe that she did. Frankly, I’m just relieved I haven’t been forced to look at her bits.
I’m sure she’s just sparing us from the gratuitous three quarter nudity before the VMA’s, where I’ll hazard a guess she’ll appear in drag and gradually become more naked before the show’s over.
And what’s with the umlalt (sp?)? Is she still trying to be all worldly and Eurotrash?
When I first heard “Judas” I laughed because it was so electronically altered, and just reinforced every stereotype about Gag’s music: talk-singing, slurring, electronic stammering, shallow, and overly repetitive. It sounded like she threw Pokerface and Bad Romance in a blender and dumped “LOOK AT ME I’M SACRELIGIOUS AND EDGY” sauce combined with her usual pretentious music video formula all over it. I only heard it played on the radio twice.
I like Android Lust.
I do think that Cristina Scabbia is talented. I’ve heard them live. I’ve heard Gaga live too and to be honest, I still am not impressed by what I’ve heard.
She’s relatively good. Relatively. When your competition is Katy Perry or Rihanna, it doesn’t take a whole lot to sound decent, let alone amazing. Also, the waterworks during her performances make me want to puke, portraying herself as though she’s the only person whose songs (or others’) mean something to her.
There are tons of musicians who sound better than she does. I happen to listen to many obscure metal bands, and while the operatic vocals in metal at this point are generally in my opinion passe, it actually requires a lot of talent to acheive the vocals common to metal music, such as the growling.
Frankly, I think Gaga panders to pop music because it’s comfortable for her. Chicks wih talent, hell, even more talented than Gaga are a dime a dozen in the metal scene. Metal musicians can play their own instruments. Metal musicians can write their own songs and not limited to the same lyrical matter every time. Metal musicians can sing. Many can’t produce the gutteral vocals common to extreme metal. They manage to look evil and badass while sounding evil and badass.
I don’t know. Scabbia always paled in comparison to other prominent metal singers. She’s a trained singer and if THAT is what she has achieved with training, talented is not something I’d use here.
Don’t even bring metal growling into the discussion. There’s only a handful of growlers who can actually not sound like they have a dick jammed down their throat, and all of them are talented singers, probably even classically trained. Everybody can squeeze a growl out of their throat, but it’s extremely hard to be good at it, and only 5 out of 50 can do it well, resulting in a whole lot of poor quality metal bands. And badass? Oh, no. I mean I dig long hair, but the badassery metal bands put on in promo photos and stages is a gimmick, just like Gaga’s.. whatever she’s doing. You know that those ‘badasses’ are actually drunks and pansies. I’ve been behind the stage a lot. 😀
I do think that Gaga would pull off singing in a lighter metal band. I didn’t like her last album at all, but god damn, she can belt. I tend to agree with every dart of criticism thrown at her, and a year ago, I would even agree that she couldn’t sing, until I actually sat down with Bad Romance and oh. Dear. God. And she’s better in live than most singers, only topped by people who are trained singers and can sing tirelessly for hours.
Anyway, you know, I’ve been part of the same culture as you, probably worshiped the same bands, but at some point I grew out of it, and while I do like some bands still, mostly I just listen to those, especially the vocalists and think: wow, I used to consider THAT great? Broaden your horizons, friend. You’re being defensive, even though I understand completely where it’s coming from.
I find her more believable as a man then as a woman. sorry.
OK, so you think Cristina Scabbia sucks and I don’t. She may not have the greatest technical voice in metal, but I do think she sounds great. Admittedly, I can’t sing for shit and really don’t know what qualifies a musician as a great vocalist, but I do think Scabbia can hit a note.
So you agree that growling is tough to learn to do right. At least we’re on the same page with that. In my experience, the death metal singers usually have less talent than black metal singers do. I find most operatic singers at this point really boring, even though I admit they are talented. There are only a handful of metal bands with operatic vocals left that don’t bore me out of my skull.
As for looking “badass”, I like the barbaric image but that’s secondary importance to me. I find that a lot of them seem very intelligent and cultured. I enjoy the vocal stylings, subject material, and music of these bands. If they washed off the face paint and put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, as long as they played the same kind of music, I would love the band the same.
I’m being defensive because I’m sick of everyone pressuring me to worship Gaga’s voice. I just can’t get into her. Different tastes and all. Then again, maybe since I find her such an appalling character, I am biased and any kind of talent she may have is just clouded by my dislike of her. I don’t know. She might be able to sing, but I’m not willing to listen to her regardless because her songs are incredibly obnoxious in several ways and she’s just such an asshole.
I tried to, but I just can’t, and maybe *you* grew out of some of your tastes, but some of these bands I’ve been a fan of for years. It isn’t a phase. I think it’s quite normal to grow out of some musicians, but I can honestly say that the only genre of music to which I put my heart and soul into listening is metal. I know it sounds dramatic or silly, but the only genre of music I’ve ever felt that attached to was metal.
However, that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy some industrial, darkwave, and 80s new wave.
She looks like a Coppola more than Jason Schwartzman.
She doesn’t look like Bob Dylan – but she definitely looks like Shane McGowan!!! And that’s not great!! 🙂
@Venefica, of which metal bands are you a fan?
@ Cherry Rose
I don’t know who Shikee or Android Lust are, but couldn’t someone say that she took her inspiration from Jean Paul Gaultier? Usually someone always gets some idea from somewhere else. Don’t really care for Gaga, but I don’t understand how it makes her different than everybody else.
I can only go off of Wikipedia, but it seems like The Fifth Element came out before she did.
That is one UGLY she-male.
@Danziger – If it was anyone other musician, I’d have said it was a coincedence on that outfit. But considering how blatantly Gaga has copied and ripped off other artists, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Gaga copied off Shikee.
@Venefica Delirium – I grew out of my metal phase. Some of the bands I can still listen to occassionally, but for the most part, I’ve become a fan of Industrial, EBM, Aggro-tech, and DarkWave.
LOL@RITA! She totally did!
This is the best she’s ever looked. Although Andrew Dice Clay is now calling his lawyer!
Pacino – HOO-HAW!
@Cherry Rose, Oh that’s Shikee’s “anon cross” outfit! I don’t know what she calls it, I just call her outfit that. I loved that video. Shikee’s outfit was much more androgynous and badass than anything Gaga has worn.
I too have grown out of a lot of metal, but the classics like Slayer and stuff are still good. But industrial, post industrial, EBM and darkwave are my favorite genres. Darkwave really does mostly provide mature, thoughtful fare- like Black Tape For A Blue Girl and This Mortal Coil- I call that stuff ‘music for adults who like to think” lol
@Morticians: I like a lot of classics like Metallica, Dio, Iron Maiden, or Testament.
I’m particularly fond of black metal. Opera IX, Italian black metal, is one of my favorite bands…but I personally think that Cadaveria is irreplaceable for that band. Granted, I love some of their latest songs they just aren’t the same without her. Cadaveria (formed by former Opera IX vocalist and drummer) are great. I’m enthralled by her vocals.
I love Darzamat. Polish black metal, another favorite.
Honorable mentions go to Anorexia Nervosa, most of Ancient, Evol, Astarte, Darkestrah, Limbonic Art, Lucifugum, Old Man’s Child, Profanum, and tons of others I know I’m forgetting.
Hi Cherry and DethHammer. Have you guys ever heard In Tenebris? They’ve broken up but are one of my favorite darkwave bands. What about L’Ame Immortelle? I’ve been listening to them for several years now. They’re another favorite.
Not to hijack any threads, but if you’d like to recommend me some new darkwave or EBM, I’m open!
On Topic: I think Gaga makes quite a hot looking guy, but she also makes quite a hot looking female too. 🙁
The only good thing about Gaga is her looks.
Reminds me of Kirk Acevedo From FRINGE OMG! 😀
She actually looks rather handsome to me as a male. She should keep this look going for a while…
i like her style in just dance or poker face, but now its just ridiculous. its way too much.
Yeah, okay everything has been done before, so. All the people listed above who did it before her, were not the first either, this shiz has been around since film itself; so what’s your point? I don’t think she is going for original or “first”. She’s having fun and this is her version or take on this look. I call this one interesting, and it will likely catch the attention of new fans for a different reason, smart move.
I’m so tired of her weird antics, it’s all getting so tiresome. She should just go away for a while, maybe come back and give up all the strange clothing and artifice. A lot of very successful singers wear normal clothes and just stand in front of the mic, singing — excessive schtick and costumes are not really needed when true talent is present.
Love it. She’s the hotness.
Hunchback Geek: Maybe because she credits herself for being so original and self-made while it’s blatantly obvious that she forges other artists.
Don’t blame her critics for holding against her something she placed on herself by patting herself on the back for being completely innovative and unique. She’s a walking contradiction and congratulating yourself for being so “unique”, you better be able to back those claims up.
Funny how about a year ago all of her “monsters” were cooing over her for being sooo original but when it was revealed that she didn’t come up with any of those ideas on her own, how defensive they became.
Everyone has inspirations, but she acts like all of this is his own idea, so yeah, she does deserve the backlash she receives for being full of shit.
She looks horrid as a woman, even worse as a man..
its like Bob Dylan became road kill….
but even Bob Dylan had talent, unlike this transgendered circus TROLL.
This is just a publicity stunt..
I think the smoking is also disgusting. What is this teaching young people and college students?
A bunch of crap.
While she tries to gain more recognition in the gay-community she just makes a fool of herself.
She needs to just get lost..
I have not checked in here for a while because I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are good quality so I guess I will add a person back to my daily bloglist. You deserve this my friend